For 10 years, Karachi’s only food lab has been non-operational

KARACHI:  It’s been a decade since a lab established in the provincial capital of Sindh to check the safety of food items has been non-operational.

The lab established in the 1960s by the Sindh government under the umbrella of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) was tasked with checking 105 items such as packed milk, cooking oil, chocolates, tap and mineral water and determine if they were safe for consumption.

Every month the lab receives over 600 samples but none of them are checked.

For the checking process, 12 food inspectors had been appointed tasked with getting three samples of each item, following which a public analyst would check these samples and send a report to the court and Senior Director Food for further proceedings.

However, since the last decade, these functions to protect people from unhygienic food have been stopped and no action has been taken by the authorities.

600 samples are received every month but are not checked

Senior Director of the Food Lab, Javaid-ur-Rehman has admitted that the lab is outdated and all the machinery which was purchased in 1965 has expired. Mr Rehman added that not a single test has been performed for the last decade except for iodine and distilled water.

Speaking to Geo.tv, Public Analyst Dr Raziudin said in 2017 laws from 1965 were being followed which is why the majority of the food items were not in their custody to check. He added that the Sindh government has decided to make a Sindh Food Authority similar to the one in Punjab but no timeframe had been set for this to happen.